By simply failing to wear a mouth guard while playing sports, you increase your odds of experiencing an injury to your mouth by about 60 times. Common mouth injuries include loss of teeth and jaw fractures. These injuries are both painful and serious, and often require surgeries and days or weeks of recovery. What’s worse is that even a poor mouth guard choice might not save you from these problems. Below is a glance at things you should keep an eye out for when purchasing an athletic mouth guard in order to keep your mouth safe.

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Recommended Thicknesses Of Mouth Guards In Sports

There about two dozen sports that experts believe require the use of a mouth guard. These sports include football, boxing, basketball, rugby, soccer, wrestling, acrobatics, hockey, martial arts, skiing, handball, lacrosse, badminton and several others. For obvious reasons, these sports do not require the same level of mouth protection. For instance, it would be unthinkable for anyone to get into a boxing ring without a mouth guard. On the other hand, many people avoid using a mouth guard altogether when engaging in racquetball games.

Essentially, contact sports such as martial arts, boxing, wrestling and so forth require you to use thick mouth guards. Non-contact sports such as tennis and swimming can be played with thin mouth guards. However, the absolute minimum thickness for a sports mouth guard should be around 1.5 mm. For contact sports such as boxing and mixed martial arts, a mouth guard that is at least 4 mm thick would be more ideal. With non-contact sports like lacrosse and softball, a 2 mm mouth guard can get the job done. For a sport like hockey and football, a 3 mm mouth guard is adequate. Basically, the necessary thickness depends on the risk of mouth injury a particular sport presents to the player.

For the best kind of protection, a custom mouth guard is clearly the best way to go. Everybody’s mouth is different, which means you should have a mouth guard made with you in mind in order to get the special protection your mouth requires. One of the key factors to consider when wearing a mouth guard is how well it fits in your mouth.

Because of a better fit, a custom mouth guard will be better placed to keep you from getting injured during sports. A better fitted mouth guard also offers considerably better comfort. Stock mouth guards are often large, uncomfortable, poorly fitted and will even affect your breathing. These are all problems you can do without as you engage in high-energy sports such as basketball and boxing.

The other benefit of custom mouth guards is that they are generally of better quality than their generic off-shelf counterparts. Generic mouth guards have been known to damage people’s mouths especially with extended periods of use. This clearly defeats the very purpose of wearing a mouth guard in the first place. With a bulky and uncomfortable mouth guard, you will also have a harder time speaking, which can be a problem in sports such as basketball and football where constant communication with other players is completely critical. Only a custom mouth guard can keep you from this serious setback.

Depending on your sport of choice, the custom mouth guard can also vary in thickness. In high contact sports such as martial arts where more protection is required, you can ask for a thick mouth guard. On the other hand, if you consider a mouth guard more of a formality than a functional sports accessory, you can also ask for a thinner custom mouth guard when placing your order.

Thin v. Thick Mouth Guards

Beyond a certain thickness, a mouth guard begins to get uncomfortable. All this depends on how thick the mouth guard is. In general, the thinner the mouth guard, the more comfortable it will be to wear. But even while chasing optimal comfort, you have to keep in mind that the whole point of a mouth guard is to protect your mouth from impact, and a thin mouth guard will not do this as well as a thick mouth guard will.

In general, studies have indicated that the optimal thickness for a mouth guard is around 4 mm. Any thickness below this point causes slight improvements in comfort, but it also brings about considerably compromises in the level of protection the mouthpiece offers. On the other hand, with a thickness greater than 4 mm, the level of protection increases slightly, but the level of discomfort increases at an even greater pace. But generally speaking, any mouth guard thicker than 3 mm is considered a thick.

At the end of the day, the best thickness in a mouth guard is that which lets you play your sport safely. Some sports are a lot rougher than others. For instance, when playing basketball, elbows are going to end up in your face, and a stronger mouth guard will be necessary. That also means a thicker mouth guard would be better. For a sport like weightlifting, a thinner mouth guard might do, but only because not as much mouth protection will be necessary.

Cost Implications

Clearly, a custom mouth guard is the way to go, but at what cost should you expect this important sporting accessory? A typical dental office can ask for as much as $500 for a custom mouth guard. This is certainly not a small expense. Fortunately, you also have the option of using an online store to get dental DIY dental molds which you can use to help create your own custom mouth guard.

By using the online option, the cost of a custom mouth guard can be reduced to as little as $100, and this is without having to deal with any trade off with regard to quality. The reason behind this considerable discrepancy in price is because with an online store, you are sent a kit with which to create your bite impression and send it back to have the custom mouth guard made for you.

If you opt for the boil and bite version of mouth guards, you will pay as little as little as $20. This kind of mouth guard is the cheapest you can find. Also, these mouth guards are typically around 3 mm thick.

Conclusion

Athletic Mouth Guards In Sports

In many sports, both contact and non-contact, it is absolutely critical to wear a mouth guard to avoid serious injuries. However, your choice of mouth guard is just as important. The best option is to get a custom mouth guard. Not only is a custom mouth guard better at protecting the mouth and the jaw, but it is also more comfortable and allows for improved breathing during the game. If cost is an issue, you can always get your custom mouth guard from an online store as opposed to a traditional dentist’s office. You could also opt for a boil and bite mouth guard, but the quality will not match what a custom version has to offer.

Do you grind your teeth at night? The main reason for that could be stress. Teeth grinding is something that many people develop involuntarily and can hang onto for many years. For this reason, it may become frustrating when trying to stop the action, especially because it is something that happens when you are sleeping. However, most people positively overcome the condition. Therefore do not let it overcome you. You can try different methods to see how you can deal with it. One thing is for sure- Yoga is helping in an unsuspecting way.

Teeth grinding is also known as bruxism. It refers to excessive clamping together of the upper and the bottom jaw that is accompanied by the grinding of the lower teeth with the upper ones. Most people are not aware of the problem because it happens at night. Normally it is only when a dentist points out the teeth damage from grinding that a person with bruxism becomes aware of the problem. Grinding of teeth affects both adults and children, though adults are the most affected. Even though it is not a serious medical problem, it can cause havoc in the mouth. It can lead to painful teeth and cause them to loosen. Parts of the teeth can also break and this can lead to jaw disorders, pain, damaged teeth, and headaches.

Stress is the main cause of teeth grinding. When someone is stressed, he or she gains a form of energy that need to be released. Even though every person responds to stress, some people respond through muscle contraction. For example, if you have an existing bite problem, and you bring in some stress, your body may find grinding of teeth as a relief. By simply reducing your level of stress with lifestyle changes, you may find that you can put an end to this problem. You can actually reduce stress by doing more exercise or, if you have certain problems in your life that are causing problems, you should talk to a therapist. Other simpler things you can make is listening to your favorite music, going for a walk or having a pet. You can also ease stress by taking a warm bath, relaxing and doing yoga. In fact yoga has been identified by many as the golden ticket to lessen teeth grinding. Different yoga techniques help to reduce tension in the body and muscle activity.

Experts say yoga and meditation can help. There are numerous yoga techniques that can help you stop grinding your teeth at night. First, relaxation is very important if you want to overcome teeth grinding. As stated above, stress play a very big role in teeth grinding. Therefore, it is very important to adapt a daily routine that focuses on relieving your stress to ensure you are stress-free at night. Yoga stretches are very important not just to reduce teeth grinding but also for your health. Some of the yoga poses that can help reduce grinding of teeth include:

Eyes around the clock pose– Shockingly, stress on the eyes can drop down to the rest of your face including your jaws. You need to relax your eyes by doing this yoga pose known as Eyes around the clock pose. Start by closing your eyes slightly and rotate your eyes clockwise twenty times, then rotate your eyes counter clockwise for twenty times.

Warrior 2 Pose – this pose opens the sub-occipital muscles in the neck. When you stand to do the pose, make sure one of your legs is at 45 degrees and the other one is facing straight ahead, then your arms should be out at shoulder level, and the shoulders back and relaxed. Increase your spine, and then turn your head to the left or right. Hold this pose for about 10 breaths. Then turn and face the other direction with your legs (the leg that was straight let it face 45 degrees and the one that was at 45 degrees should now face straight forward)

The Camel Pose – this also opens the sub-occipital muscles found in your neck. Sit on a mat and bring yourself onto your knees that are hip width apart. Then gradually straighten up on your knees. Then lengthen your spine to the sky as high as you can, push your pelvis forward and up. And then keep your hands on your lower back and let your neck be long. Gradually bring your head back as far as you can bring it. Make sure your shoulders are relaxed. You should hold the pose for 10 deep breaths. Your jaw physiques will be strained and tension will be released.

Bridge Pose – This is another yoga pose that can help get rid of teeth grinding. Lie on your back, and gradually lift your hips high then push them slightly forward. At the same time interconnect your fingers behind your back without squeezing your shoulder edges together, and then fold your chin into your chest. Hold this pose for 10 deep breaths. You will feel a nice upper back release.

Yoga is a practice. The yoga cure will not work overnight. As you get deeper into your yoga practice, you will start to notice a lighter feeling & a sense of ease that you will carry with you throughout the day and into the night. Hence, the most important thing to remember is to stop, relax, take a deep breath and commit yourself to your practice every day. In short, the more you can let go of stress during the day, the less likely you are to be overwhelmed by the issue at night. Through consistency and deep breathing/yoga improvement, the likelihood of teeth grinding occurring at night &/or during the day will begin to lift.

Since grinding your teeth when you sleep is a disorder related to sleep, another way to deal with the problem is to visit a sleep study center. You can get these centers at universities or hospitals. They can use their sensors to take measurements of all the things your body does while you fall asleep. They can even tell if you have other sleep disorders such as snoring and sleep apnea which are common with people who grind their teeth. Your doctor will then recommend treatment based on those results.

Though it is difficult to stop the habit of grinding your teeth at night, it is not impossible. It is therefore necessary to visit your dentist, and make yoga your favorite workout.